It can be frustrating letting the entire neighborhood know you’re either coming or going from your house every time you use the garage door. Wouldn’t it be better if you didn’t have to wake up the neighbors every time you got home late from work? All it takes is just a few easy steps and your door will be opening and closing as smoothly as when you first had it installed.
The easiest and quickest step is simply lubing up all the hinges, tracks, and anything else that involves any kind of movement or friction. You can use a special garage door lubricant that can be found in most department stores for under 10 dollars. Maintenance is the key to longevity, as is the case with most things in life. So depending on how old the door is, you may not even need to make any repairs. Also be sure to sweep up a bit. Accumulated dust can contribute to corroding parts, which function poorly and cause a lot of ruckus.
If the noisiness persists, don’t worry. There are still a number of steps you can take to make your door quiet down. Before you go out buying yourself new parts, make sure everything is tight. Scan the door and get familiar with where all the nuts and bolts are located. Use a ratchet and deep socket to tighten them up, but don’t over-tighten because then you might strip the nuts. Be sure to replace any worn parts. Then check the chain and tighten if necessary. Once you feel everything’s been tightened to an appropriate degree, add some more lubricant.
Once you’ve sprayed everything down and tightened all the screws, if you’ve still got the loudest garage door on the block, now would be the time to consider buying yourself some new parts. If your door is particularly old, especially if it hasn’t been properly maintained, it may need new sets of rollers, roller tracks, and/or hinges. If your budget permits, nylon rollers require less maintenance and are nice and quiet, although they’re a bit pricier than steel.
Replacing the tracks and hinges can be a bit of a tricky endeavor and there is some risk of injury, so make sure to operate with caution. Unless you are a professional, it would probably serve you best to hire one for this operation. That said, poorly installed hinges are the most likely source of all the noise, and replacing them can make an extremely noticeable difference.
Once you’ve covered all your bases and your garage door finally opens and closes smoothly, grab a beer, put the game on, and relax. You earned it.